College internships are a good way for a firm to generate future applicants to jobs that it is planning to create in the coming year or two. This is because college internships can be used to make students at colleges more aware of a firm and of the opportunities that might arise at that firm.

When the firm creates a college internship program, it gets applicants for that program. It will typically interview more applicants than it actually takes on as interns. When it interviews these other applicants, it becomes aware of them and they come to be aware of the company. This means that they will be more likely to apply for jobs with that company in the future, particularly if the interviewers treated them well.

Of course, when the firm takes on interns, it creates more potential applicants. It is very likely that the interns themselves will apply for future openings. The interns will also have friends and classmates who will become aware of the firm because the interns are working there. This will serve as a sort of “word of mouth” way of making college students aware of the firm.

In these ways, college internship programs can help a firm to generate future applicants.